Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 44 ERV, Ch. 45-46 CEV, Ch. 47 NKJV

Associate Producer

Timothy LaFontaine

Podcast Introduction

This is the Law Monday. Genesis 44-47    I’m calling todays episode, “Which Way?”

And it’s December 19th, so we’ll hear Christmas Question number 19. sent in by Rob Brousseau. Of course, our Christmas expert, James Cooper of whychristmas.com has an answer for him.

Comments on Genesis 44-47

Let’s recap quickly what has happened in Joseph’s life, in relation to his older brothers.

He was the eleventh son of Jacob, but the first son through Rachel, his favorite wife. And Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons because he was born when Jacob was old. Of course Jacob made no attempt to hide his favoritism toward Joseph, and this caused his brothers to hate him. To make matters worse, when he was a teenager he had dreams in which the family would bow down to him…and he told them about the dreams. And his brothers hated him so much that they sold him into slavery, but they told Jacob that he had been killed by wild animals.

Then, through a series of events that saw Joseph become the supervisor of an Egyptian official’s household, then falsely accused of rape by this same official’s wife, thrown into prison, and elevated to the Pharaoh’s second in command because of his God-given ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and devise a plan for Egypt to survive and even prosper through a coming seven year drought, his brothers find themselves bowing down before him, asking to buy food because the drought had caused a famine that spread beyond Egypt, even into Canaan. And Jacob remembered the dreams he had had as a boy when he saw them bow down to him.

Joseph’s brothers don’t recognize him, though he recognized them. 

This is where the story gets interesting. Joseph lets his brothers continue to think that he is an Egyptian and he accused them of being spies. 

In Genesis 41:38 Pharaoh said, “I don’t think we can find anyone better than Joseph to take this job! God’s Spirit is in him, making him very wise!” Even thought Pharaoh was not a believer in the true God, he was correct in his assessment. The Holy Spirit was in Joseph, and it was the Holy Spirit who led Joseph in his dealings with his brothers when they came to Egypt to buy food.

The things that have happened between Joseph and his brothers from the time they first appeared in his presence in Egypt, right up to where we are in chapter 44, have been to bring God’s plan for this family to fruition. Joseph misled his brothers, not to be spiteful or vengeful, but because God was using him to bring them to a place of correction and restoration. The brothers had to face what they had done to Joseph and their father.

When the brothers threw Joseph into the pit, he cried out to them, pleading for their help. As commentator Donald Barnhouse said, “A physicist could compute the exact time required for his cries to go twenty-five yards to the eardrums of the brothers. But it took twenty-two years for that cry to go from the eardrums to their hearts.”

And here in chapter 44, it looks as if the brothers have finally come to repentance. After the silver cup that Joseph had planted in Benjamin’s sack was discovered by Joseph’s servant, and it appears that he will become Joseph’s slave (remember, the brothers still do not know that this apparently Egyptian ruler is their brother whom they sold into slavery), all of the brothers plead with him to let them stay with Benjamin as slaves, instead of returning home without him.

But Judah, one of the brothers, makes an impassioned plea to Joseph from verse 18 to the end of the chapter at verse 34. Of this speech, F.B. Meyer wrote: “In all literature, there is nothing more pathetic than this appeal.” H.C. Leupold wrote, “This is one of the manliest, most straightforward speeches ever delivered by any man. For depth of feeling and sincerity of purpose it stands unexcelled.” Donald Barnhouse called it “the most moving address in all the Word of God.”

This desperate plea broke Joseph’s heart. In chapter 45, he made all the Egyptians who were in the room with he and his brothers leave, because he was overcome with emotion. Once they were gone, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers. At first, they were terrified by the realization, but he told them not to worry or blame themselves because it was God’s plan, because God used him to save the lives of people who would have starved from the famine, including their own family.  

After Joseph’s revelation to his brothers, he sent them back to Canaan to get their father and the entire family to bring them to Egypt so that he could take care of them because the famine was not yet over. And when Jacob heard that Joseph, his most beloved son was still alive, he was overjoyed and said, “Now I can die a happy man.”

All of the things that happened to Joseph were for a reason. The hatred of his brothers. Being sold into slavery. Imprisonment for a rape he did not commit. God used it all to preserve the family line from which the Messiah would come.

God is sovereign. No matter the decisions or actions of man, God’s plan will always come to completion. Yes, man has free will. He can choose to obey God, or he can choose to disobey. But God will have His way. On this, Spurgeon wrote, “How wonderfully those two things meet in practical harmony – the free will of man and the predestination of God! Man acts just as freely and just as guiltily as if there were no predestination whatever; and God ordains, arranges, supervises, and over-rules, just as accurately as if there were no free will in the universe.”

This kind of reminds me of the old saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

Beloved I would much rather be working *with* God than against Him. Wouldn’t you?

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Genesis 44-47: Which Way? (LSFAB S13E079)

[TEASER – 0:00]
It was God’s plan.

[INTRO S13E079 – 0:09]
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we are reading through the entire Bible in a year. And I’m happy to see you today. The website is lifespringmedia.com. And this is The Law Monday. Today our reading will be Genesis 44 through 47. And I’m calling today’s episode “Which Way?”

Today is December 19th, so we’ll hear Christmas question number 19 sent in again by Rob Brousseau. And James Cooper of whychristmas.com will have an answer for Rob.

Before we read, let’s pray.

[OPENING PRAYER – 0:49]
Our heavenly Father, as we read today, first, we thank you for your Word. And second, I ask that you help us to understand and that you would show us how we can apply what we learned today to our lives every day. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Okay, let’s begin.

[GENESIS 44 (ERV) – 1:06]
Genesis 44.

(1) Then Joseph gave a command to his servant. He said, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much grain as they can carry. Then put each man’s money into his sack with the grain. (2) Put the youngest brother’s money in his sack too. But also put my special silver cup in his sack.” So the servant obeyed Joseph.

(3) Early the next morning the brothers and their donkeys were sent back to their country. (4) After they had left the city, Joseph said to his servant, “Go and follow the men. Stop them and say to them, ‘We were good to you! So why have you been bad to us? Why did you steal my master’s silver cup? (5) My master drinks from that cup, and he uses it to learn secret things. What you did was wrong!’”

(6) So the servant obeyed. He rode out to the brothers and stopped them. The servant said to them what Joseph had told him to say.

(7) But the brothers said to the servant, “Why does the governor say these things? We wouldn’t do anything like that! (8) We brought back the money that we found in our sacks before. So surely we wouldn’t steal silver or gold from your master’s house. (9) If you find the silver cup in any of our sacks, let that man die. You can kill him, and we will be your slaves.”

(10) The servant said, “I agree, except that only the man who is found to have the cup will be my slave. The others will be free.”

(11) Then every brother quickly opened his sack on the ground. (12) The servant started looking in the sacks. He started with the oldest brother and ended with the youngest. He found the cup in Benjamin’s sack. (13) The brothers were very sad. They tore their clothes to show their sadness. They put their sacks back on the donkeys and went back to the city.

(14) When Judah and his brothers went back to Joseph’s house, Joseph was still there. The brothers fell to the ground and bowed down before him. (15) Joseph said to them, “Why have you done this? Didn’t you know that I have a special way of learning secrets? No one is better at this than I am!”

(16) Judah said, “Sir, there is nothing we can say. There is no way to explain. There is no way to show that we are not guilty. God has judged us guilty for something else we have done. So all of us, even Benjamin, will be your slaves.”

(17) But Joseph said, “I will not make you all slaves! Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. You others can go in peace to your father.”

(18) Then Judah went to Joseph and said, “Sir, please let me speak plainly with you. Please don’t be angry with me. I know that you are like Pharaoh himself. (19) When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ (20) And we answered you, ‘We have a father—he is an old man. And we have a younger brother. Our father loves him because he was born while our father was old. This youngest son’s brother is dead, so he is the only son who is left from that mother. Our father loves him very much.’ (21) Then you said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.’ (22) And we said to you, ‘That young boy cannot come. He cannot leave his father. If his father loses him, his father will be so sad that he will die.’ (23) But you said to us, ‘You must bring your youngest brother, or I will not sell you grain again.’ (24) So we went back to our father and told him what you said.

(25) “Later, our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some more food.’ (26) We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. The governor said he will not sell us grain again until he sees our youngest brother.’ (27) Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons. (28) I let one son go away, and he was killed by a wild animal. And I haven’t seen him since. (29) If you take my other son away from me, and something happens to him, I will be sad enough to die.’ (30) Now, imagine what will happen when we go home without our youngest brother—he is the most important thing in our father’s life! (31) Our father will die if he sees that the boy isn’t with us—and it will be our fault. We will send our father to his grave a very sad man.

(32) “I took responsibility for the young boy. I told my father, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me for the rest of my life.’ (33) So now I beg you, please let the boy go back with his brothers, and I will stay and be your slave. (34) I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I am very afraid of what would happen to my father.”

[GENESIS 45 (CEV) – 5:27]
Genesis, chapter 45.

(1) Since Joseph could no longer control his feelings in front of his servants, he sent them out of the room. When he was alone with his brothers, he told them, “I am Joseph.” (2) Then he cried so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and told about it in the king’s palace.

(3) Joseph asked his brothers if his father was still alive, but they were too frightened to answer. (4) Joseph told them to come closer to him, and when they did, he said:

Yes, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. (5) Don’t worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives.

(6) There has already been a famine for two years, and for five more years no one will plow fields or harvest grain. (7) But God sent me on ahead of you to keep your families alive and to save you in this wonderful way. (8) After all, you weren’t really the ones who sent me here—it was God. He made me the highest official in the king’s court and placed me over all Egypt.

(9) Now hurry back and tell my father that his son Joseph says, “God has made me ruler of Egypt. Come here as quickly as you can. (10) You will live near me in the region of Goshen with your children and grandchildren, as well as with your sheep, goats, cattle, and everything else you own. (11) I will take care of you there during the next five years of famine. But if you don’t come, you and your family and your animals will starve to death.”

(12) All of you, including my brother Benjamin, can tell by what I have said that I really am Joseph. (13) Tell my father about my great power here in Egypt and about everything you have seen. Hurry and bring him here.

(14) Joseph and Benjamin hugged each other and started crying. (15) Joseph was still crying as he kissed each of his other brothers. After this, they started talking with Joseph.

(16) When it was told in the palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, the king and his officials were happy. (17) So the king said to Joseph:

Tell your brothers to load their donkeys and return to Canaan. (18) Have them bring their father and their families here. I will give them the best land in Egypt, and they can eat and enjoy everything that grows on it. (19) Also tell your brothers to take some wagons from Egypt for their wives and children to ride in. And be sure to have them bring their father. (20) They can leave their possessions behind, because they will be given the best of everything in Egypt.

(21) Jacob’s sons agreed to do what the king had said. And Joseph gave them wagons and food for their trip home, just as the king had ordered. (22) Joseph gave some new clothes to each of his brothers, but to Benjamin he gave five new outfits and 300 pieces of silver. (23) To his father he sent ten donkeys loaded with the best things in Egypt, and ten other donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other food for the return trip. (24) Then he sent his brothers off and told them, “Don’t argue on the way home!”

(25) Joseph’s brothers left Egypt, and when they arrived in Canaan, (26) they told their father that Joseph was still alive and was the ruler of Egypt. But their father was so surprised that he could not believe them. (27) Then they told him everything Joseph had said. When he saw the wagons Joseph had sent, he felt much better (28) and said, “Now I can believe you! My son Joseph must really be alive, and I will get to see him before I die.”

[GENESIS 46 (CEV) – 8:41]
Genesis, chapter 46.

(1) Jacob packed everything he owned and left for Egypt. On the way he stopped near the town of Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God his father Isaac had worshiped. (2) That night, God spoke to him and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”

“Here I am,” Jacob answered.

(3) God said, “I am God, the same God your father worshiped. Don’t be afraid to go to Egypt. I will give you so many descendants that one day they will become a nation. (4) I will go with you to Egypt, and later I will bring your descendants back here. Your son Joseph will be at your side when you die.”

(5-7) Jacob and his family set out from Beersheba and headed for Egypt. His sons put him in the wagon that the king had sent for him, and they put their small children and their wives in the other wagons. Jacob’s whole family went to Egypt, including his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and his granddaughters. They took along their animals and everything else they owned.

(8-15) When Jacob went to Egypt, his children who were born in northern Syria also went along with their families.

Jacob and his wife Leah had a total of 33 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, but two of their grandchildren had died in Canaan.

Their oldest son Reuben took his sons Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

Their son Simeon took his sons Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, whose mother was a Canaanite.

Their son Levi took his sons Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Their son Judah took his sons Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. Judah’s sons Er and Onan had died in Canaan. Judah’s son Perez took his sons Hezron and Hamul.

Their son Issachar took his sons Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron.

Their son Zebulun took his sons Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

Their daughter Dinah also went.

(16-18) Jacob and Zilpah, the servant woman Laban had given his daughter Leah, had a total of 16 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Their son Gad took his sons Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

Their son Asher took his sons Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, who took his sons, Heber and Malchiel.

Serah, the daughter of Asher, also went.

(19-22) Jacob and Rachel had 14 children and grandchildren.
Their son Joseph was already in Egypt, where he had married Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of Heliopolis. Joseph and Asenath had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Jacob and Rachel’s son Benjamin took his sons Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

(23-25) Jacob and Bilhah, the servant woman Laban had given his daughter Rachel, had seven children and grandchildren.

Their son Dan took his son Hushim.

Their son Naphtali took his sons Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

(26) Sixty-six members of Jacob’s family went to Egypt with him, not counting his daughters-in-law. (27) Jacob’s two grandsons who were born there made it a total of 70 members of Jacob’s family in Egypt.

(28) Jacob had sent his son Judah ahead of him to ask Joseph to meet them in Goshen. (29) So Joseph got in his chariot and went to meet his father. When they met, Joseph hugged his father around the neck and cried for a long time. (30) Jacob said to Joseph, “Now that I have seen you and know you are still alive, I am ready to die.”

(31) Then Joseph said to his brothers and to everyone who had come with them:

I must go and tell the king that you have arrived from Canaan. (32) I will tell him that you are shepherds and that you have brought your sheep, goats, cattle, and everything else you own. (33) The king will call you in and ask what you do for a living. (34) When he does, be sure to say, “We are shepherds. Our families have always raised sheep.” If you tell him this, he will let you settle in the region of Goshen.

Joseph wanted them to say this to the king, because the Egyptians did not like to be around anyone who raised sheep.

[GENESIS 47 (NKJV) – 12:56]
Genesis, chapter 47.

(1) Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in the land of Goshen.” (2) And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. (3) Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?”

And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” (4) And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

(5) Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. (6) The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”

(7) Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. (8) Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

(9) And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (10) So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

(11) And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. (12) Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.

(13) Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. (14) And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

(15) So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

(16) Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” (17) So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

(18) When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. (19) Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

(20) Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. (21) And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. (22) Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

(23) Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. (24) And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

(25) So they said, “You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” (26) And Joseph made a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

(27) So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. (28) And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. (29) When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, (30) but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

And he said, “I will do as you have said.”

(31) Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.

[COMMENTARY – 18:11]
Let’s quickly recap what has happened so far in Joseph’s life, shall we, in relation to his older brothers.

He was the eleventh son of Jacob, but the first son through Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife. And Joseph was clearly Jacob’s favorite son because he was born when Jacob was old. And, of course, Jacob made no attempt to hide his favoritism toward Joseph, and this caused his brothers to hate him. To make matters worse, when he was a teenager, Joseph had dreams in which the family would bow down to him, and he told them about the dreams. And his brothers hated him so much that they sold him into slavery, but they told Jacob that he had been killed by wild animals.

And then through a series of events that saw Joseph become the supervisor of an Egyptian official’s household, then falsely accused of rape by this same official’s wife, thrown into prison, and then elevated to the pharaoh’s second-in-command because of his God-given ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and devise a plan for Egypt to survive and even prosper through a coming seven-year drought, Joseph’s brothers find themselves bowing down before him asking to buy food, because the drought had caused a famine that spread beyond Egypt, even into Canaan. And Jacob remembered the dreams he had as a boy when he saw them bow down to him.

Well, Joseph’s brothers didn’t recognize him, though he recognized them. This is where the story gets even more interesting.

Joseph lets his brothers continue to think that he’s an Egyptian, and he accused them of being spies. And back in Genesis 41:38, Pharaoh said, “I don’t think we can find anyone better than Joseph to take this job. God’s Spirit is in him, making him very wise.” Well, even though Pharaoh was not a believer in the true God, he was correct in his assessment. The Holy Spirit was in Joseph, and it was the Holy Spirit who led Joseph in his dealings with his brothers when they came to Egypt to buy food.

The things that have happened between Joseph and his brothers from the time they first appeared before him in Egypt, right to where we are here in chapter 44 today have been to bring God’s plan for this family to fruition. Joseph misled his brothers not to be spiteful or vengeful, but because God was using him to bring them to a place of correction and restoration. The brothers had to face what they had done to Joseph and their father.

Back when his brothers threw Joseph into the pit, he cried out to them pleading for their help. And as commentator Donald Barnhouse, said, “A physicist could compute the exact time required for his cries to go twenty-five yards to the eardrums of the brothers. But it took twenty-two years for that cry to go from the eardrums to their hearts.”

And here in chapter 44, it looks as if the brothers have finally come to repentance. Remember, the brothers still don’t know that this apparently Egyptian ruler is their brother whom they sold into slavery. So after the silver cup that Joseph had planted in Benjamin’s sack was discovered by Joseph’s servant, and it appears that Benjamin will become Joseph’s slave, all the brothers plead with him to let them stay with Benjamin as slaves instead of returning home without him.

But Judah, one of the brothers, makes an impassioned plea to Joseph from verse 18 of chapter 44 to the end of the chapter at verse 34. Of this speech, F.B. Meyer wrote, “In all literature, there is nothing more pathetic than this appeal.” And H.C. Leupold wrote, “This is one of the manliest, most straightforward speeches ever delivered by any man. For depth of feeling and sincerity of purpose, it stands unexcelled.” Donald Barnhouse called it “the most moving address in all the Word of God.”

Well, this desperate plea broke Joseph’s heart. In chapter 45, he made all the Egyptians who were in the room with he and his brothers leave, because he was overcome with emotion after Judah’s plea to him. Once the Egyptians were out of the room, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers. At first, they were terrified by the realization. But he told them not to worry or blame themselves because it was God’s plan because God used him to save the lives of people who would have starved from the famine, including their own family.

Well, after Joseph’s revelation to his brothers, he sent back to Canaan to get their father and the entire family to bring them to Egypt so that he could take care of them because the famine was not yet over. And when Jacob heard that Joseph, his most beloved son was still alive, he was overjoyed. And he said, “Now I can die a happy man.”

Beloved, listen, all the things that happened to Joseph were for a reason: the hatred of his brothers, being sold into slavery, imprisonment for a rape he did not commit. God used it all to preserve the family line from which the Messiah would come.

God is sovereign. No matter the decisions or actions of man, God’s plan will always come to completion. Yes, man has free will. He can choose to obey God or he can choose to disobey God, but God will have his way. On this, Spurgeon wrote, “How wonderfully those two things meet in practical harmony – the free will of man and the predestination of God! Man acts just as freely and just as guiltily as if there were no predestination whatever; and God ordains, arranges, supervises, and over-rules, just as accurately as if there were no free will in the universe.”

This kind of reminds me of the old saying, “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.” Beloved, I would much rather be working with God than against him, wouldn’t you?

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE – 24:14]
Well, what do you think? Easy way? Hard way? Let me know. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511, or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com, and leave a comment there. I read every comment and there’s a good chance I’ll play your audio comment or read your comment here on the show.

Tomorrow is History Tuesday, and we’ll read 1 Samuel 6 through 10.

[SUPPORTER SHOUT-OUTS – 24:46]
We have an Associate Producer today. Timothy LaFontaine came in Sunday morning with a $125 donation with no note. So let me just say thank you so much, Tim, for this generous gift. I appreciate ya, Brother, and thank you. God bless you.

[BOOST ANNOUNCER – 25:01]
And now it is time for le boost. Boostagram.

[SUPPORTER SHOUT-OUTS (CONT’D) – 25:06]
And lookie here a boostagram came in from the Lovely Lady LeeAnn who’s using the Fountain app. It’s 500 sats, and she sent this boostagram while listening to the “1 Corinthians 7-8: No Tripping” episode. She said, “Wonderful show my love. It’s good…” She likes to embarrass me. “It’s good to remind people in various stages of relationships or singleness, if that’s a real word, that God has them in his plan. And if I can boost (being technologically challenged) anyone can.” And she put a heart emoji and a laughing emoji. Well, thank you, Sweetheart.

And yes, Beloved, I can certainly vouch for that. Without going into any details, let’s just say that LeeAnn and tech are not best friends. But even with that fractured relationship with tech, she figured out how to take the sats, that the Fountain app has paid her for listening to the show, and then to turn around and send them to the show. And she did it with zero help from her IT department, which is me. I honestly had no idea that she was going to do this. So yeah, let’s see if we can get more sats coming into the show. And just as a point of reference, 500 sats sounds like a lot, but it’s only a little over eight cents. 10,000 sats is about $1.68 and 100,000 sats is about $16.77. So when you hear these numbers of sats, you’re generally not talking about a lot of money. But it’s fun. It’s… it’s fun to send boosts. It’s fun to stream, and it’s fun to receive them on my end. So do this: Pick up a new podcast app at newpodcastapps.com. Fountain is a good one to start with, but there are others as well.

[ANNOUNCER – 26:46]
Chapters, transcripts, images, links, stream micropayments to the podcast and send satoshis in real time over the Lightning Network using a compatible podcasting 2.0 app. Just go to newpodcastapps.com. That’s newpodcastapps.com. And for more info go to podcastindex.org. Boost!

[BOOST ANNOUNCER – 27:07]
Boost represents the future… of podcasting!

[SUPPORT THE SHOW – 27:13]
And I am so thankful for the generous donations of so many people who share time, talent, or treasure to make it possible for me to bring the Lifespring Family Audio Bible to you each day. It’s true. Without your help, it would not be possible for me to do this seven days a week, I’d probably be doing some sort of a podcast because God called me to proclaim his name, but it would be different if I didn’t have your help. So from the bottom of my heart, thanks to each of you who have given in one way or another. You truly are partnering with me to produce this show, and you have my gratitude. And if you would like to return some of the value of you’ve received from the show and you’d like to support the show, just go here:

[JINGLE SINGERS – 27:55]
lifespringmedia.com/support.

[SUPPORT THE SHOW (CONT’D) – 27:58]
I’ll thank you and I believe God will bless you.

[CHRISTMAS QUESTION – 28:03]
Christmas question number 19. Yesterday, we read Rob Brousseau’s first question and today James will answer Rob’s second and third questions which are somewhat related. Those questions are: “What is the significance of holly with which we deck our halls with boughs of it? And what about the wreaths? It seems like we mostly see them around Christmas.” Okay, James, what’s the deal with holly and wreaths?

[JAMES COOPER ANSWERS – 28:28]
It seems like we mostly see them around Christmas, and indeed we do. So let’s have a quick run through some Christmas greenery, their meanings, and then we’ll get on to the wreaths.

So we talked about red and green and that takes us to holly. The prickly leaves represent the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when he died. And as I said that berries are the drops of blood. In Scandinavia, holly’s colloquially known as the Christ Thorn. In pre-Christian times, holly was thought to be a male plant an ivy was a female plant. Hence the old song “The Holly and the Ivy.” Ivy has to cling to something to support itself as it grows. So this can remind us that we need to cling to God for supporting our lives. In Germany, it was traditional that ivy was only used as an outside decoration, and was supposedly tied on the outside of a church to protect it from lightning.

We have fir and yew trees. These are often your Christmas trees. And they’re also a sign of everlasting life because they’re evergreen plants.

We have rosemary, now that’s been associated with the Virgin Mary because it was thought to be Mary’s favorite plant for years. And it’s also said that it can protect you from evil spirits. It’s sometimes called the friendship plant and was the most common garnish used on the boar’s head that was a very common European, especially English, Christmas dish for hundreds of years. It’s also known as the remembrance herb and was used at Christmas as this was the time that we remember the birth of Jesus. In the late 1700s, a special Christmas rosemary service was started in Ripon Cathedral in England, where a red apple and a sprig of rosemary was tied on the top and they were sold by the school boys to the members of the congregation for tuppence, fourpence or sixpence depending on the size of the apple.

Laurel’s another evergreen. It was worn as a wreath on your head by the Romans and Greeks to symbolize success or victory. And it also symbolizes the victory of God over the devil. And speaking of laurel, it brings us round (see what I did there?) to Christmas wreaths because that’s where it might have started.

Wreaths being a circular sign of evergreen and everlasting life might have started with laurel wreaths. They were given to the winner of the Olympic Games. The word wreath comes from the Old English word “writhen” which means “to writhe or twist.” Christmas wreaths as we know them today might have started from the German and Eastern European custom of Advent wreaths, where you have four candles placed on a wreath of fir. They also could have started as kissing boughs, or kissing bunches, or Christmas boughs, or Christmas bunches. These were sort of an early British pre-Christmas-tree type of thing. They were like a ball made up of two or more hula-hoop-type things that you covered in greenery made into a ball shape. And then in the middle, you had apples and from the bottom, you hung a sprig of mistletoe, and that’s probably where the custom of kissing under the mistletoe also came from, and hence the name kissing boughs.

So that’s a quick tour around your Christmas greenery. But when should you take it down? Well, it was traditional to take your decorations down after Twelfth Night or the 5th of January on Epiphany, which is January the 6th. But if you want you can leave your decorations up longer. During the Middle Ages, greenery including mistletoe was often left hanging up until Candlemas, which is on the 2nd of February. It’s the church service that remembers Jesus being taken to the Jewish temple as a baby and is also the time when candles are blessed for use during the next church year.

So this year, why not be bold? Leave your decorations up till the 2nd of February, you might get a few odd looks from your neighbors. But just say that you’re a Christmas traditionalist.

[CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS (CONT’D) – 31:50
Well, thank you, Rob, for the question. And thank you, James, for another detailed answer. I’ll have a link from James with more information on the show notes page at lifespringmedia.com/s13e079. And James, until tomorrow, my friend.

Now, Beloved, send in your Christmas question. There’s just a few days left before Christmas and I don’t want to see you miss out on your chance to be one of the ticket winners to see the movie “Jesus Revolution” when it comes out in February. To be in the drawing for every question you send in you will get one entry. Of course, the drawing will take place on the Christmas episode. And in addition to that drawing, we’ll have a drawing for a signed copy of my book “Webb’s Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide” and on that one, every question I use on the show will get an entry. Send your questions in to st***@*************ia.com and put “Christmas question” in the subject line.

[OUTRO S13E079 – 32:48]
When I was seven years old, my mom and dad, and I lived in North Bergen, New Jersey just across the Hudson River from New York City where my mom rode the bus to work every day. And one of my fondest childhood memories is when she took me to see “The Nutcracker Suite ballet at the Radio City Music Hall. Now, it didn’t make me a lifelong fan of ballet, but I have loved that music ever since and just a few nights ago, the Lovely Lady LeeAnn and I went with our friend Ron Ploof of the Griddlecakes Radio podcast and his wife to see a marvelous performance of “The Nutcracker Suite.” So I want to share just a taste of that music with the overture performed on the guitar by James Hollihan.

So, until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your day. I’m Steve Webb. Enjoy “The Nutcracker Suite Overture.” See you tomorrow. Bye.

[JAMES HOLLIHAN PERFORMS “THE NUTCRACKER SUITE OVERTURE” – 33:42]

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript corrected by Denise